Transnet SOC Ltd — a South African rail, port and pipeline company, based in Johannesburg — has officially launched a manganese train with 375 wagons — a world record for a production train with the most number of wagons (www.transnet.net) .

The train is 4km long and will run over a distance of around 861km (from Sishen to Saldanha); it will break the record held by Transnet Freight Rail’s (TFR’s) 342-wagon iron-ore train.

Running such a train means that rolling stock, as well as some infrastructure, needed to be upgraded to 30 tonnes per axle on the section between Hotazel and Sishen.

The increase from 312 to 375 wagons raises the manganese carried from 19,656 to 23,625 tonnes per train. Transnet’s share of export manganese has been growing exponentially from 5 million tonnes in 2012/13 to a record-breaking 15.1 million tonnes in 2018/19.

TFR general manager Brian Monakali, who is also the former chairman of the International Heavy Haul Association, said: “This is another breakthrough for the heavy-haul railway industry.

"Rio Tinto, Australia, recently started with the implementation of driverless trains in their iron-ore railway system.

"Transnet has now successfully ‘operationalised’ the 375-wagon train.

"The collaboration on technical research and sharing of best practice by heavy-haul operations world-wide will surely keep pushing the operations, safety and rail capacity envelope to new levels through the application of breakthrough technology.”